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Sunday, April 21, 2013

Im back on this wonderful Sunday Funday to link up with Neely and Ashley for the Sunday Social!

1. What is your shopping weakness?

If I'm shopping for myself I love Ann Taylor Loft and New York and Company. Clothes that I can wear to work and get on the sale rack for reasonable prices- score! Now, its rare that I even shop for myself. Usually if I see a SALE email pop up I'm going to spend my cash on the kid at either Gymboree, Children's Place, Old Navy or Carters. He is most def the best dressed person in our house these days. If we're not necessarily talking clothes but just shopping weaknesses I have to say its Target. Please tell me I'm not the only one who goes in for one thing and comes out with a cart full of things?! Its like they hypnotize you when you cruise the dollar spot or something...

2. What is your food weakness?

I'm a sucker for a good crispy french fry and some mac n cheese.

3. What is your go to movie to watch when nothing else is on?

Sweet Home Alabama. Pretty sure I play it in my head when I'm bored and I can't watch TV.

4. What is your go to breakfast food?

During the week, an Eggo and a can of Coca Cola. Don't judge.

On the weekends, Grayson and I usually split cereal or if I'm feeling really motivated Ill make us some pancakes to share.

5. Do you drink coffee, if so how do you take it?

I don't. That's why I start my day with a can of the red caffeine. My students can vouch for the fact that every day there is a can on my desk and I tell them frequently that's what keeps me sane.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

The other day I saw a link up I couldnt wait to partake in from the fabulous Becky from over at Mrs. to Mama.

Letting our loved ones say some things about us- seems harmless right? Well, thats what I thought until I sent a quick email to the hubs asking him to partake in the fun...then I thought, "Oh crap, what did I just do?!"

Lets see what the hubs had to say about me, shall we? All of this is in his own words-

Hi guys and girls. Its the 'hubs' here to hijack Bethany's blog for the day to tell you all of her dirty little secrets. Just kidding, I still have to live with her and all. Okay, here goes nothing.

Honestly to describe my wife.... She is perfect. She gave me a beautiful family I am grateful for everyday.

She is grateful. We may not live in the shiniest and newest house on the block but she knows we have worked hard for what we have.

She is an overachiever. She goes above and beyond for everything.

Don't scrape the bottom of the bowl with your spoon to try to get out the last of that ice cream or the last of the spaghetti sauce. The noise irks her and she yells at you for it. Then she eats your last bite of ice cream.

Don't park in her parking spot, or mine either for that matter. Its a city living thing. She wants a driveway with our next house but for now just don't park in her spot. The McKeesport comes out in her every time.

She loves to plan a good party. She can plan a party like no one I have ever met. All the details are perfect all the way down to the forks matching the balloons. Before I met her I didn't know forks could match balloons, but apparently its a big deal.

She is humble. She doesn't need praise from everyone for every little thing she does. In fact, she would probably go crazy if she had to listen to that all day.

She will wash and fold laundry, but putting it away is a battle for the ages.

If you want to see her pass out, show her a cut or wound. Shes horrible with blood and needles. Like pass out cold on the floor when she saw someone get an IV. Im still amazed she agreed to a c-section.

Don't let her watch Kleenex commercials or sappy movies. She cries every single time, even if she's already seen the movie. Sometimes that makes it worse, because she starts crying knowing the sad stuff is coming. I think it is cute though.

She loves a good challenge. Don't tell her she cant do it because you will usually lose that bet.

She loves Ralphie May. In my opinion it doesn't get much better than that.

She has a thing for Kenny Chesney. I tell her all the time that if he would walk by she would leave me in the dust, and I only think I'm half kidding on that one.

She loves telling corny jokes. The cornier the better. Under normal conditions I wouldn't admit this, but since its a special occasion Ill let it slip, I usually retell her jokes even though I claim they are horrible.

She loves to laugh. The more smiles the better.

She loves life.

She is always looking for a new adventure.

She would die happy if she could go to all of the restaurants featured on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives. Shes not a fancy eater- in fact shes actually super picky, so no french restaurants or overpriced steaks here. Just give her a cheeseburger and the perfect onion ring and as long as she can pull the actual onion out, shes good to go.

Honestly, I couldn't ask for more in a wife.

Well thats all I got for now, maybe Ill stop back in again sometime and spill some more details.

Monday, April 8, 2013

Way back in September we had a Super Why themed first birthday for the Grayson Boy. Like, for real, the kid was obsessed with that show so it was the only reasonable option for his big my-parents-kept-me-alive-for-a-whole-year shindig.

I did alot of DIY projects for the party- a birthday banner, a high chair re-do, custom superhero capes, cupcake face toppers, and these wooden cut outs for the kids to pose with and have their picture taken as a Super Reader. I created tutorials for alot of the projects, but recently Ive been contacted alot about how I made these guys- so I decided to post directions on how I made them.

First, I have to let you in on my dirty little secret. I can NOT draw. Seriously, stick figures are as good as it gets. When I try to draw diagrams on the board in class my students are often like, please just stop. Its that bad. So how did I manage to make these guys look so darn good?

With this guy.

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Yep, the overhead projector the teacher used in school to put notes up on the board.

I found one at a yard sale for $15 dollars and brought that little guy home, because I knew it would come in handy one day. It just so happened that I was right.

First I went onto Sprout and printed out some coloring book pages of the characters. Then I took them to a local copy store and ran them off on transparencies (clear plastic paper). If you have a laser printer you can probably print right onto the transfer paper, but I have an ink jet so it would just smear like crazy on the transparency.

Then I had to pick up my board. I used 4 x 4 Luan- which is a is a thin layer of plywood veneer made from tropical wood. Plywood is a wood panel made of thin layers of wood veneer glued together, but Luan typically has a solid core of wood between two layers of veneer, though the solid core may have problems with voids and dry spots in the glue of the veneer. It tends to be softer and lighter than most plywood. It cost me around $6 per sheet and I knew I could get two characters on one board- so roughly $3 per piece. You can always get thicker plywood, its just up to you.

I primed the Luan and set up the projector in the front hallway and got to work. I positioned the first character on the overhead projector and fiddled until it was taking up the left half of the board. Then I got to work with my Sharpe marker tracing the projected image. I knew I would go back and paint over the lines with black craft paint, so this was just a quick trace to get the picture transferred.

Once I got one traced, I flipped the second character over and positioned it on the other side and repeated the process. Then I went back with a small paint brush and black craft paint and filled in all of the lines.

Once the black lines were dry it was time to bust out the craft paint. I actually printed the characters out in color, then took that paper to the paint aisle at JoAnn's to match colors. It was also really helpful to have them in color while I was painting, so that I didnt make any mistakes like mixing up two colors. Then I started painting. It took maybe an hour and a half to paint both characters fully, then I let them dry and went back over the black edges again to clean up any painting out of the lines.

I will tell you that when you do this on your own you will look at it and see all of these little imperfections, but when you take a picture of it you will not see them at all- so don't freak out. Once its all dry you send the husband out to the garage with the jigsaw to cut the characters out and build a small three sided box to affix to the back with some glue. Then all you have to do is drive a garden stake into the ground and they stand up perfectly!

Then you just stick the birthday boy behind the Super You and take as many pictures as he will let you- which if you have my child, is about two before he runs away.

All total the project took maybe five hours total, from tracing to cut out and the total cost was somewhere around $35. Not too shabby, but if you didn't already own the transparencies or most of the craft paint it could cost a bit more. Even still, people on Etsy charge upwards of $50 per character, so it was a smart DIY choice.

Saturday, April 6, 2013

One of my favorite things about blogging is getting to meet and know some fantastic ladies that live all over the place. Even though we cant be in each others lives physically day to day, I love that I can sit down after the Bean goes to bed and visit with each of you and hear about your days. Of course to be present you have to comment- after all you can't form friendships silently! That's called stalking, and its technically illegal in all 50 states- I kid, I kid! :)

So in an effort to get to know even more wonderful bloggers, I've decided to join up with the Ultimate Blog Party. Its all about reaching out, meeting new people, COMMENTING, and forging new relationships.

So if you're new to these parts, welcome! I'm Bethany, the voice behind this little chunk of the blogosphere.

I'm a wife to the Hubs and Momma to my sweet baby boy, Grayson. By day I'm a professional teenage wrangler/high school science teacher who loves nothing more than a good laugh, cozy yoga pants and a really good caffeine buzz.

This blog is filled with all of the crazy that is my life. Here you'll find everything from my parenting wins and fails, food I can actually cook, DIY projects, tips and tricks to make life easy and various other random things. I type it all up with a bit of humor and the occasional touch of sarcasm and hope you laugh along with me.

Welcome to my crazy life!Come along with me as I attempt to navigate the crazy life of a wife, new mommy, professional cheapskate, DIY-er, and teacher

I'm a wife to the hubs and a mama to the bean. A lover of sweet tea and pajama pants. A wanna-be photographer and world traveler. A black and gold football junkie. Cheap at heart, with expensive taste. Spend my days chasing the man-child, DIY-ing my dreams, and keeping a lid on my sarcasm. This is my crazy life, welcome to it.